The Bats Wake Up, The Pitching Stays Hot, The Yankees Roll The Pale Hose

Now that's what I'm talking about. The Yankees had it all working tonight. A great outing from the starter. An offensive explosion. It's good when everyone is on the same page and they fire on all cylinders.

CC Sabathia pitched a great game. Typical CC. I got a late start on giving my kids their baths tonight. I walked by the TV in the top of the 1st and saw runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. I was a little surprised when I turned on the MLB At-Bat app and saw that CC go out of the inning without allowing a run. I love it when these guys pull a Houdini act. CC's start makes the 7th straight outstanding start from the Yankees. Over the last 7 games, Yankee starters have thrown 50 innings, giving up 8 earned runs on 35 hits and 11 walks while striking out 38. That works out to a WHIP of 0.92 and an ERA of 1.44. Out-freaking-standing. I take great pleasure in putting those numbers together each night. I hope it continues.

By the time I got all the kids to bed it was the top of the 5th. The Yankees were up 2-0 and to my surprise they scored those runs without having a hit. What what what? That soon changed with a 5th inning hit parade. That was fun to watch. Nick Swisher went 3-4 with his 1st HR. What what what? Brett Gardner went deep. What what what? Jorge Posada went 0-4. Figures. Half-kidding on that last one.

Man Jorge is struggling. He's not even hitting the ball hard. That's kind of sad. I thought the DH role would suit him well but so far not good. It just doesn't look like there's anything there. How long can they go with him in the lineup when he's doing that poorly. I don't even see any good contact. I'm very concerned about Jorge. I think he'll snap out of his funk. When is the question?

Overall, great night for the offense. Any night you score 12 runs on 13 hits and 8 walks is a great night. It was nice to see after several games of futility. I'm hoping the bats stay hot and the starting pitching gets hotter than it is already. It was nice to see greatness on both sides of the field tonight. It will be nice if they can keep that going as the Blue Jays are coming to town and they always seem to give the Yankees fits. It should be a great series. It would be nice to see a sweep and end April on a really high note but I'll settle for a series win. Take it to 'em guys.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A.J. Burnett Pitches A Gem But The Yankee Bats Don't Back Him Up

What a horrible way to kick off a homestand, right? That was such a frustrating game to watch. So frustrating that I don't really want to blog about it. But being the trooper that I am, I will. But there's not really much to say.

Excellent job by A.J. Burnett. He was outstanding. It's a shame that the offense couldn't come through for him tonight. He pitched a gem and walking away with a win would have been nice. Instead he walks away a hard luck loser. A.J. threw 8 really strong innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks. One could argue that the run he gave up really wasn't his fault. Carlos Quentin's double would have been a single had Curtis Granderson not dove for that ball. Missing it allowed Quentin to take 2nd. He later scored on 2 groundball outs. I can't fault Granderson too much for going for that ball. It might not have worked out but I don't see him going after it unless he thought he had a shot at making the grab. But whatever. It is what it is. It sucks that the team spoiled such a great outing by Burnett. It really is.

There isn't really much to say about the offense since there wasn't any. It sucks that are so many "easy outs" in the Yankees lineup right now. Posada @ .145. Gardner @ .136. Swisher @ .227. And to a lesser extent, Jeter @ .244. That foursome needs to start pulling their weight. It's amazing that the Yankees are 12-7 with half the lineup performing that poorly.

I still would love to know why the Yankees seem to struggle mightily against pitchers they've never faced. Is it lack of preparation? Poor scouting reports? It happens too often for it to be a coincidence. I don't get it. Anybody have any theories? Is it really not the case and it just seems that way? I'm too lazy to look it up.

Phil Hughes had a setback today. Apparently, his bullpen session didn't go too well. It sounds like it went the same as his starts, meaning that there's nothing there. The team is sending him for an MRI. I'm curious to hear about those results.

There's no reason to dwell too much on tonight's loss. I'm treating it like Mariano Rivera does with a blown save. Forget about it, move on and get them tomorrow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Freddy Garcia Shines Again As Yankees Clip The Orioles 6-3

I'm going to start this blog by saying this will not be my best work. Today is my last day of vacation and I have to return to work tomorrow. I've had a pretty busy week off and I've somewhat tortured myself by sleeping about 5-6 hours per day. I'm in desperate need of some serious sleep and I've imposed a 9pm deadline on myself to go to bed. I've got 15 minutes and I still need to iron some clothes. So this one may be a little rushed but hopefully I'll still get my points across. Here goes nothing.

Freddy Garcia was again outstanding. 6 more shutout innings which runs his scoreless innings streak as a starter to 12. What's most impressive in the 12 innings he's thrown as a starter is that he's only allowed 4 hits and 3 walks. That works out to a WHIP of 0.58. Yes, you read that correctly. Wow. The impressive thing is that he's not doing it with overpowering stuff. He's hitting his spots. He's mixing his speeds and his pitches. He's pitching. It just goes to show that you can be successful without a blazing fastball. Phil Hughes take note. Well done Freddy.

If I were Joe Girardi I would not have pulled Freddy after 6. He was at 91 pitches and if I were running the ship he would have stayed in until he ran into trouble. The leash would have been short and I wouldn't have let him pitch the 8th. Had Girardi followed that strategy we might not have seen Joba implode in the 7th. I can understand and respect why Joe made the switch. I can't fault him for Joba stinking up the joint. As for Joba, it's the same two-step as last season. Step forward, step backwards. I want to see more consistency from Joba. I think we might see David Robertson take over the "7th inning guy" role. Rafael Soriano was unavailable today and I think it was a little telling that Joe went to D-Rob in the 8th and Joba in the 7th. Maybe I'm reading too much into that. We'll see.

Back-to-back blown saves for Mariano. I'm a little shocked but not at the same time. I think the home plate ump was inconsistent with his strike zone and he should have punched out Adam Jones. Regardless, I'm still not use to seeing Mo perform like he did in back-to-back games. As I wrote after his 1st blown save, April appears to be the month where he struggles the most. He's Mariano Rivera. There will never be any worries about him on my end. He's the man.

Props to the top of the lineup. Jeter and Granderson combined to go 7-11 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. Jeter picked up 4 hits and raised his average to .257 but he didn't exactly knock the cover off the ball. But hey, they all look like line drive singles in the box score. I'm hoping it's a turning point. Granderson has some serious power stroke going on. He hit HR #7 which banks another $20 for his charity. Dude is going to break me.

2 minutes 'til 9......

Bottom of the lineup was blech. Swisher 0-5. Posada 0-4. Martin 1-4. Gardner 0-5. Combine that and you've got 1-18 with 2 walks and 9 Ks, 4 of which were Gardner. Horrible. I love how Swisher tried to change up his luck by rocking the high socks and then giving up on it. With the exception if Martin, the bottom of the order has been pretty weak. But I'm a minute over my cutoff point so I'll end it there. But you guys know they're weak so we're good.

It's back to the Bronx for a 7-game homestand with the White Sox and Blue Jays. Rain rain go away. I want to see the Yankees play. Later.

9:02pm. Not bad.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Somebody Call The Baltimore Police Because The Yankees Just Murdered The Orioles

Somebody needs to call the Baltimore cops because a crime was just committed in Camden Yards. Wow. Talk about a massacre.

CC Sabathia was on cruise control tonight. Despite scoring 3 runs the Orioles couldn't really touch him. It was a very free and easy outing for CC. Had the Yankees not tore the roof of the mother in the late innings he probably would have gone the distance. It pretty much was a lights out performance. Exactly what you'd expect from the ace. Apparently, when you go winless thru your 1st 4 starts the only way to guarantee yourself the win is to take care of it yourself. CC was a man on a mission tonight. He pitched most of the game with a pitch count well below 10 pitchers per inning. His control was excellent. He threw 73.8% of his pitches for strikes, walking one and whiffing 7. Great job by the big man.

You could slice this 2 ways but you could make a case that CC is off to his best start as a Yankee. It's a close call between this year and last. Thru his 1st 5 starts this year, CC has pitched 33 IPs to a tune of a 2.73 ERA. He's allowed 31 hits and 10 walks (1.24 @WHIP), while striking out 30 and allowing 2 longballs. Last year in his 1st 5 starts, he threw 34.2 IPs with a 3.12 ERA. His WHIP was better at 1.07 (25 hits and 12 walks). He struck out 28 and allowed the same number of HRs. I know it's not a true comparison due to the many different factors between the seasons, but either way you go, he's off to a good start. It's probably a little behind last year but not by much.

The entire offense, with one exception (Nick Swisher) had at least one hit tonight. The biggest blasts came off the bats of Russell Martin (what's new?), Alex Rodriguez (what's new?), and Brett Gardner (say what?). Yeah, that last name is a surprise. BG chipped in with a double and a 2-run HR. His HR was surprising but it came at the perfect time. The O's had just intentionally plunked Martin. And I say intentionally because you don't just happen to hit 2 HRs and get hit right near the head on accident. Gardner avenged that HBP by going yard. Nothing beats that kind of retaliation. Suck on that Showalter.

What is going on with the power surge, right? The 2011 Yankees are definitely Bronx Bombers. They belted another 5, count 'em 5, HRs tonight. They've now hit 35 on the season which is a team record thru their 1st 17 games. They have 4 guys with 6 HRs a-piece (Posada, Martin, Teixeira, Granderson). The biggest surprise though is that Nick Swisher hasn't hit any. It's probably because I'm not dropping $$ to his charity this year. Granderson is getting that love and he's earning it. I was anticipating donating like $300 or so. He's on pace to take about $850 from me. Yikes. Don't quote me on this stat because I'm sure I don't have it right but Granderson has hit the 3rd most HRs in all of MLB going back to some point in August 2010. Wow. Props to Kevin Long. And not just for working his mojo on Curtis but on all of the guys. Now if only he could fix Derek Jeter. That should be his priority numero uno.

Great win tonight. The Yankees handles things on both sides of the field. They came. They saw. They murdered the Orioles. The Yankees don't have an off day until May 9th. They play 15 straight days, get an off day, and then play another 16. Baseball is in full swing. I love that.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Mariano Rivera Is Human In Yankees Loss That Is 100% My Fault

It doesn't happen often, but it happens. The great Mariano Rivera blew a save and the Yankees lost in extra innings. Like I said, it happens. Apparently, with Mariano, it happens more often in March and April than it does during any other point of the season. Mo's career save percentage in March/April is 84.4%. In May through October it's 90.3%. Hat tip to WFAN's Sweeney Murti for that little nugget which he shared on Twitter. Mo is human. He's going to have these kinds of outings every now and then. But as we've seen many, many times in the past, Mo bounces back and rocks the house. He rocks it long. He rocks it good. Mo is the greatest of all time.

Brett Gardner needs to get his head out of his rump shaker and start playing some baseball. He can't bunt. He can't hit. He can't steal a base. Something needs to change and whatever it is it needs to change fast.

Curtis Granderson is going to make me go broke. He hit his 5th HR and is now on pace to hit 54 HRs. At 15 bucks a pop I'm going to be dropping $810 to his charity. Hey Curtis, slow your roll would ya? Kidding. Keep banging them out of the park.

Now as I mentioned in the title of this post I'm 100% to blame for this loss. Why? Because I opened my pie-hole and put the whammy on the bullpen. During the game the Yes Network sent out a tweet asking for thoughts on the Yankees' bullpen. My reply: "If a starter can go six and leave the game with the lead the game is over. The bridge to Mariano is as solid as it's ever been." Ooops. Yeah, I should have known not to do that. This one is totally on me. My e-mail address is in the upper corner of the blog if you want to send hate mail.

I've got a few more things to say but I'm going to cut this one short. I'm headed to Toronto in the morning and I want to get some sleep. I'm going to the game and also going to do a little autograph hounding. Maybe I'll run into my new BFF Russell Martin. How cool is it that he posted a link to the blog I wrote about him yesterday on his Facebook wall and also retweeted it? Very cool and very appreciated. The blog has never had so many page hits in one day. Thanks Russell.

Not sure I'll be around tomorrow to blog. Also not sure about tweeting. When I was in Toronto last year there was no wifi access at the Rogers Centre. I may tweet via text but I won't be able to see or respond to tweets without wifi. I hope everyone enjoys the game and I'll try to bring back a win and hopefully atone for my stupid comment today. What was I thinking?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Ladies And Gents, We Have Pie!

That was a great Yankee win tonight. Down 5-0. The bullpen shuts things down. A run saving kick save by Joba. Clutch hitting in the 9th. A walkoff in the 10th. Pie in Nick Swisher's face. Add that all up and it's a great Yankee win.

Another horrible start by Phil Hughes. I didn't see the first 2 innings he pitched but was following along on the MLB app. It didn't look like he had any sustained gains in velocity. He started out OK but didn't have any pop. Now, I'm concerned and it's time to make a change. They can't keep running Phil out there to pitch 3-4 innings.

Luckily, the Yankees have had Bartolo Colon to pair up with Phil. Bartolo has been awesome for the Yankees so far. He was definitely one of the unsung heroes of tonight's win. Personally, I think he was the player of the game. He came in and locked it down for 3 scoreless innings. That gave the Yankee bats time to chip away at the lead. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees flip-flop Hughes and Colon. Personally, I think they should.

The bullpen definitely was a huge plus tonight. Joba looked extremely sharp and his block of home plate ended up being a thing of brilliance. At regular speed I thought the ump blew the call but Joba somehow managed to block the plate and prevent Pie from scoring. That was a game saver. I'm slowly starting to become a Joba fan.

Mariano Rivera. That is all.

A-Rod is on fire right now. He came up huge tonight and continues to be locked in. M-V-P! M-V-P!

Nick Swisher is reminding me a lot of 2009 Nick Swisher. If you read the blog in 2009 than you might remember I called Nick "the Rally Killer." He was not exactly clutch with runners in scoring position or in big spots. He's currently 2-14 w/RISP this year which is bad but he got the job done tonight with his game-winning sac fly. For his efforts he got the 1st pie in the face of 2011.

My wife wanted to kill me when Posada tied up the game with his HR. I screamed out of pure joy. She yelled at me for being too loud. Sorry dear, it's going to happen. I gots to be me.

Something needs to be done with the top of the order. Brett Gardner looks overmatched in every AB. He either doesn't swing or is very late on the ball. I don't know if he's trying to walk or what but he needs to swing the bat. I think I wrote last year that you could tell he was trying to work walks. That can't be your approach. When he does swing it seems like everything is a foul ball to the 3rd base side, or something hit weakly in that same direction. I don't think he has the bat speed to get around on a fastball. Sliders? Yes. Fastballs? No. The time has come for him to drop to the bottom of the order.

It doesn't help that Derek Jeter is hitting only .233 in the 2-hole. He does have the 4th highest average on the team but he isn't instilling any confidence in me when he steps up to the plate. When he does hit he's not hitting well. Coming into the today, 26% of his 2935 hits went for extra bases. He's got one extra base hit this year and 9 singles. That's not the DJ we no and love. Hopefully it's just a slump and not a drastic regression in his offensive skills.

What the heck were the Yankees doing having Russell Martin bunt in the 9th inning. Granderson, who has speed, is on 2nd as the winning run with no outs. Martin is up and is off to a great start, hitting close to .300. Martin is followed in the order by Gardner and Jeter, whose troubles at the plate I've already mentioned. I have no idea why Girardi called for a bunt. If successful, then you have Granderson on 3rd with weak-hitting Brett Gardner up. If he fails, then it's the struggling Jeter. A base-hit was needed to score Granderson and he probably scores from 2nd on a hit. Martin should have been allowed to take his hacks. Prior to his AB, everyone on Twitter, me included, was tweeting not to bunt. As soon as Russell squared up I was ticked. You knew once he did the Yankees weren't scoring. Terrible call there.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out but it's late and I'm tired. It's going to be nice going to sleep tonight after this big win. If only Phil Hughes got his act together. Phil, Phil, Phil. What are we going to do with you?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

An Open Letter To The Yankees Offense

Dear Yankees Offense,

Please start hitting the ball.

Sincerely,

Yankee fans everywhere

Seriously, outside of Cano, A-Rod, and Russell Martin, nobody is really hitting. Take a look:

Swisher = .219
Jeter = .206
Teixeira = .182
Granderson = .172
Gardner = .167
Posada = .138

Two-thirds of the Yankees lineup is hitting under .219. You're not going to win a lot of games when you hit like that. Just ask the Rays and Red Sox. Burn.

I've seen a lot of talk about Derek Jeter and his offensive struggles. I think a lot of that criticism is a little underserved. I could understand it if he was the only one scuffling but if you look at their numbers; he's doing better than 1/2 the lineup. But DJ has kind of brought this on himself. He didn't exactly light the world on fire last season. The concerns are very valid. But it's early. They'll all snap out of it.

Wake up bats.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Bats Power Yankees To 9-4 Win Over The Sad, Sad Red Sox

How sad are the Boston Red Sox? Wow. They're 1-7, in last place, and currently have the worst record in all of baseball. I hope the Fenway Faithful take notice of that tomorrow at the ballpark when they see the standings on the Green Monster. The Red Sox, simply put, are terrible. Outside of Dustin Pedroia there isn't one person on that team that's doing much of anything.

As a team, through the 1st 7 games, they rank 29th out of 30th in team batting average, 27th out of 30th in OPS, and 21st out of 30th in runs scored. I remember having an exchange with a Sox fan on Twitter during the offseason. I had tweeted that the acquisitions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez provided a marginal offensive upgrade over Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre. I was of course called an idiot or something. I wish I remembered who that Sox fan was so I could throw this at them but alas, their Twitter handle escapes me.

What even makes the team sadder is their pitching. They rank dead last in team ERA and OPS. They've allowed the most HRs and I don't think the stats I'm looking at include the 4 they gave up today. Outside of one start by Jon Lester they've all been horrendous. So much for having a team of 5 aces, eh Sox fans? The Red Sox, as the title of this post says, are a very sad, sad team. For now anyway. I don't expect them to stay this bad for the entire season. I think they're highly overrated, arguably the most overrated team ever, but they are a good club. They will win their fair share of games. But enough about them......

How about that game today? Awesome, right? Sure, the Yankees had a few sore spots, namely Ivan Nova, Brett Gardner, and Mark Teixeira, but by and large, great game. The story of the day was the offense. They hammered the Sox, scoring 9 times on 13 hits and 4 walks, and best of all, 4 HRs. The highlights pretty much came from the bottom of the order. The 5 thru 9 hitters combined to go 10-21 with 8 runs scored 9 RBI, 3 2B, 4 HR and 3 BB. They stole the show.

The 2 biggest scene stealers came from the very bottom of the order. Eric Chavez, making his first start as a Yankee, went 3-5 with 2 doubles. The big knocks though came off the bat of Russell Martin. Russell Russ went 2-4 with 2 HRs and 4 RBI. How big has Martin been this season? I am very, very impressed with what he's brought to the table. He now has 3 HRs on the year which is 2 less than the entire Red Sox team. Let me say that again. The Yankees catcher has 2 fewer HRs than the entire Red Sox team. Insert gut busting laughter here. If you were to put Martin on the Sox he'd be leading their team in longballs. The Red Sox. As previously mentioned, they're a sad, sad team.

The biggest negative from today's game had to be the start from Ivan Nova. As Yogi Berra would say, it's like deja vu all over again. What we saw today was reminiscent of the 2010 version of Ivan Nova. For those that can't remember that far back, in his seven 2010 starts Nova often struggled to make it through the 5th inning. He would be doing alright but then the wheels would fall off. His outing today kind of reminded me of that. He didn't have good stuff today. Lucky for him the Red Sox offense is terrible. If the Sox offense were any better the game could have finished much differently. Nova gave the Sox plenty of chances to score but the Sox just couldn't deliver. As a team the Sox went 1-17 with RISP. As I said they're a sad, sad team. Nova got away with one today in my book. He's got to be better. What he did today won't cut it.

Solid game by the bullpen. Glad to see David Robertson pick up the W on his birthday. D-Rob, Joba, and Luis Ayala combined for 4.2 scoreless IPs. Ayala was the only one of the trio to have a rough go of things. He allowed 3 hits and a walk. He struggled enough that the Yankees had to warm up both Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera. But Ayala got the outs when he needed to. Game over. Yankees win. Thuhh Yankees win.

We've got Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN tomorrow. CC vs. Josh Beckett. Yeah, I think we all know how this game is going to go. But hey, you never know. That's why they play the games, right. If they didn't the Red Sox would have already won the World Series and we wouldn't have any idea just how sad of a team they really are. Thankfully, we've gotten to see that. If you couldn't tell I'm absolutely loving it. But as I said up top I don't expect it to last. They've got a good squad and they'll win their share of games. I think it's clear though that they won't win as many as the Yankees. It's pretty evident who the better team is. As I tweeted this morning, Yankees > Red Sox. Always have been, always will be.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Nova And The Bullpen Carry Yankees To 4-3 Win Over The Twins

I'm coming to find that having 3 kids makes it very hard to watch night games. The whole putting to bed process takes roughly 1.5 hours from start to finish, beginning around 7pm and ending around 8:30. It starts with baths, then some TV, followed by books, then bed. It's a tough schedule for a die-hard Yankees fan. I try to sneak in as much of the game as I can. I throw a little PIP action up on the TV during some kids show when the wife isn't looking. When that's not working I've got the audio feed playing on my Droid using the MLB At-Bat App. It's not the most ideal way to follow the games but it works. Kind of. If push came to shove and I could only do one or the other I've got to hang with the kids. I love those guys. But as long as I can pull off some double duty, I'm going to.

Great job by Ivan Nova tonight. 6 strong quality innings for his 2nd career win. Unlike last year he didn't seem to run out of gas at any point during the game. Remember last season? It always seemed like he hit the wall around the 5th inning. Tonight was his 8th career start and only the 2nd time he made it through 6 innings. Overall, great job. Nova has shown signs of being a great pitcher. If he can build on his outing tonight I have no doubt that he will be.

Hats off to the bullpen. It's apparent that Joba Chamberlain is Joe Girardi's lead-in to the Soriano and Mo show. I'm not 100% sold on that. Joba makes me nervous. Whenever he pitches it's as if I have to watch the game through my fingers. I rarely feel comfortable watching JC pitch late in games when the Yankees have a 1-2 run lead. Apparently, Girardi has confidence in him. I don't not yet anyway. I do feel confident about Rafael Soriano and Mo finishing off games. That level of confidence is off the charts. Odds are if the Yankees take a lead into the 8th the game is over. Soriano came up huge today, Retiring both Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau is no easy task. Soriano did it no problem. I really like that signing. Not a fan of the contract but love the player. Mariano Rivera = game over. 'Nuff said.

The Yankees have been living off the long ball this season. Two more slam-a-lama-ding-dongs today. Posada hit his 3rd and A-Rod his 2nd. As I wrote yesterday, being a full-time DH is going to be huge for Posada. He's always had a good bat. Without the added wear-and-tear on the legs it could be great. So far it's looking like it will be. Alex is locked in and is poised to have a MONSTER year. He's healthy and it's showing. He was my pre-season MVP pick and I'm feeling really good about it.

It seems like every post I write has a "Russell Martin is awesome" section in it. It seems that way because it's true. He had another one of those nights tonight. Who knew he had that much speed? In 4 games he has 2 stolen bases. I didn't think at any point in the season Russell Russ would be among the league leader in SBs. I don't expect him to keep it up but that doesn't mean it can't be fun while it lasts. A catcher with speed. I dig it.

The Yankees are currently 3-1 and their 1-2 hitters aren't hitting. Gardner and Jeter are a combined 4 for 29 (.138). If you told me after 4 games that those two would be hitting so poorly I wouldn't have guessed the team would be 3-1. That .750 winning percentage won't last for long if those 2 don't start setting the table. I'm not overly concerned. It has been a very small sample size. It's just painful to see them both doing so poorly at the same time. I don't think Brett the Jet will do as well as he did last year. I'm still not 100% sold on him being an everyday OF. Don't get me wrong, I really like BG and think he deserves the starts. I'm just not feeling him all the time. Most of the time? Yes. All of the time? Nope. It'll be nice if those two can get it going by the weekend.

CC back on the bump tomorrow. I always feel good when he's on the hill. Hopefully, if I'm lucky, I can pull off seeing most of his start. I need to find a way to get my kids to bed by 7:05 every night. Suggestions anyone?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Comeback And Pull Off An Improbable Game 1 Win

Like the Goonies, the New York Yankees never say die. What an incredible Yankees victory! Unbelievable. I'm still kind of shocked that they pulled it out. If you told me before the game that CC Sabathia was going to get pulled after 4 innings I'd have thought that the Yankees would have been blown out. I'd have to think that tonight's come-from-behind victory took all of the wind out of the Rangers' sails. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees sweep this series now. CC Sabathia was terrible. C.J. Wilson was awesome. Yankees have a 5-run 8th inning and win 6-5. Sorry Texas. You guys are done. You can't beat up CC like that and lose the game. Again, you're done.

Play of the game had to be Brett Gardner's leadoff single in the 8th inning. That was a great heads up, or should I say heads down play. They always say that diving into first base is not as fast as running through the bag. If GGBG doesn't dive there he's probably out. If that had happened this would be a totally different blog.

The 8th inning was a great inning. After Jeter doubled Gardner home I said to myself that if Cano made it to the plate that the Yankees would win this game. I would have tweeted that but I had my hands full. Literally. Stay tuned for the story. The back-to-back walks by Swisher and Teixeira were almost as huge as Gardner's single. Those were two great ABs. I loved seeing the Yankees hammer one Texas RP after another. A-Rod sees 1 pitch and knocks in a run. Cano sees 1 pitch and knocks in another. When Robbie was up I said to myself, "C'mon Robbie. One pitch, one out. I mean one pitch one hit." Thank God I corrected myself. Cano had a monster game. M-V-P! M-V-P! Robbie is quickly becoming my favorite Yankee. I hope he's a Yankee-for-life.

There were a lot of huge contributors in tonight's win. The bullpen came up big. Joba, despite looking like he's packed on a few pounds, looked good. Dustin Moseley, of all people, looked phenomenal. He had a huge 2 innings. Kerry Wood had a HUGE pickoff of Ian Kinsler to wipe out a leadoff walk. For shame Ian. Talk about a boneheaded mistake. You can't be doing that at this level and in the ALCS. But thanks for doing it. I think I speak for Yankee fans everywhere when I say, thanks! And as we've seen so many times before in October, the Almighty Mo picks up the save. Mo is a God and I worship him. I think that statement violates one of the 10 Commandments. I think God would agree with me though. Mo is God.

The worst part of this great Yankee victory was CC's performance. He looked downright awful. It could have very well been his worst start of the season. Had the Yankees lost it definitely would have been. Let's chalk this one up to rust and inactivity. Everyone knows pitchers are creatures of habit and pitching every 5 days is what they're used to. It's been 10 days since his last start. I won't worry too much about it. But if his next start isn't vintage CC, I'll begin to worry.

The real hero of this great Yankees win is my little 2 year old daughter. I originally put her to bed at about 10pm. She woke up at around 10:35 or so. My wife wasn't home so I was on a solo mission with her. I went up to get her and brought her back downstairs to get her back to sleep. I brought her down right before Brett Gardner's 8th inning leadoff single. I stood there in our dark living room, holding her and rocking her back-and-forth. Jeter doubles. Swisher walks. Teixeira walks. A-Rod singles. Cano singles. Thames singles and the Yankees are winning. It was during that rally that I dubbed my daughter "The Rally Baby." Being a baseball nut I'm very superstitious. I stood in my living room, holding and rocking her until Mo got the final out. There was no chance I was putting her down. My arm was killing me when all was said and done. But no pain no gain, right? LOL.

Phil Hughes gets the start tomorrow, err, I mean later today. I'm expecting big things tomorrow. The Yankees have all of the momentum right now and the Rangers have to feel defeated. I'm confident the Yankees will be leaving Texas up 2-0. 4 down, 7 to go.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Better Late Than Never Yankees ALDS Game 3 Post

I had every intent on blogging right after the series-clinching victory the other night but I fell asleep with the game on sometime in the bottom of the 8th inning. I woke up sometime a few minutes later, fired off a tweet, and then unintentionally fell asleep on the couch with the TV blaring and the lights on, for the next 4 hours. When I woke up I was in an incredible daze. It took me a second to figure out where I was and what was going on. It was an odd feeling to say the least. Sunday got away from me because it was my birthday and we also had to take a road trip to a birthday party for our friends' two-year old. Next thing I know, here I am. Better late than never, right?

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes! Man, he was awesome in game 3, eh? Count the Us and you'll get 19. One for each victory, both regular season and postseason. Hughes is the man. I think his outing on Saturday turned everybody into believers, something I've been since before day 1. I've maintained all along that Phil was going to be the man. People were (prematurely) shouting Joba's praises while I was singing Phil's. People were killing Brian Cashman for not dealing Hughes to Minnesota for Johan Santana. I saw a lot of tweets and whatnot during Saturday's game about that. My how things change. I went back through all of my posts tagged with "Phil Hughes" to see what I wrote about that proposed deal between Minnesota and New York but I couldn't find it. But I did find this, from a post dated April 3, 2008:

For those of you that don't know me or are new to this blog, likely don't know I'm a big Phil Hughes guy. I frequent his blog. I drove 5 hours just to watch him pitch in Scranton (only to have it rained out). I have a Phil Hughes BP Jersey. I have a Hughes 65 t-shirt. I drove to Erie, PA two years ago just to try and get his autograph, which I did. I also bought one of those "I Want To Thank The Good Lord" Joe DiMaggio signs that they sell on Steiner Sports that's signed by Phil. I got it from MLB auctions for $100. I was biting my nails all off season while rumors were flying about him going to Minnesota for Johan. Thank God the Yankees were smart enough to hold onto Phil.

I bolded the last statement because I'm 99.9% sure it's how every Yankee fan is feeling about PJH right about now. Just imagine if the Yankees pulled that deal. Hughes would be a Twin, Johan would be a Yankee, and CC wouldn't. Thank God (and Brian Cashman) that it all worked out. Phil is going to be an integral part of this playoff run. Any doubts on how he'll perform should be tossed out the window.

Overall it was a pretty great ALDS for the Yankees. I can't believe how much they dominate the Twins come October. It's unreal. I had to fire off another e-mail today to our sister site in Duluth, Minnesota. This one provided the staff out there the suggestion that they contact our Employee Assistance Program if they needed to discuss the sweep with a trained grief counselor. I also suggested they use their Homer Hankies to wipe away the tears and the shame that comes with another ALDS meltdown. Good stuff.

I really should have blogged sooner than now. I'm struggling to remember what I wanted to blog about. Phil Hughes love-fest? Check. Big series win? Check. What am I leaving out? Hmmm. Maybe it was how great the bullpen was during the series? Rivera, Wood, Logan and Robertson combined for 7 innings of 1 run ball. Or maybe it was about how the Yankees apparently do have pitching after CC Sabathia? Pettitte and Hughes = 14 IP, 9 H, 2 BB, 10 K, 2 ER, 1.29 ERA. Or could it have been that the offense was running on overdrive? The lineup went a combined 33-105 (.314) with 11 XBH, 4 SB and 17 runs scored. Everyone had at least 1 RBI and everyone with the exception of Derek Jeter scored a run. How surprising is that? Take your pick. It could have been any of those topics.

And now we wait. We wait to see who the Yankees will meet in the ALCS. We wait to see them take the field again this Friday. I really don't care who the Yankees meet in the ALCS. If I had to go with one team over the other I probably go with the Rays. Call it nothing more than a gut instinct. I really have no preference. I like Tampa because they don't have a guy named Cliff Lee and for the most part, Tampa is like New York south. The Rays won't have a tremendous home-field advantage. The Yankees win either way however because both Lee and Rays' ace David Price will pitch Tuesday night. That means they're out for game 1 of the ALCS and likely out for game 2, unless they pitch on short rest. Advantage = Yankees. But we've got lots of time to discuss that. The series doesn't start for another 4 days. Be back later.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Fall Back To 2nd Place After Losing To Rays

Well that just sucked. I thought for sure as soon as Granderson went yard to put the Yankees up 3-2 that the game was in the bag. It was as if the Baseball Gods were smiling down upon them after allowing Jeter to reach base on a phantom HBP. Note to Red Sox fans: don't even try to talk trash about that. Victor Martinez did the same thing a few weeks back. It's part of the game. You do what you do to win. So shut up and don't even go there.

Anyway, I was so disappointed when Phil Hughes gave the lead right back on Johnson's 2-run HR. Sure Girardi have pulled him at the start if the inning? Maybe. I have no problem leaving PH in. I can see it both ways. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Outside of the 2 mistakes Phil pitched a pretty good ballgame. Unfortunately it only takes one mistake to do a pitcher in and that's exactly what happened. Sorry Phil. No Hughes call tonight. We're still stuck on 16.

The Yankees offense came up short tonight. Only 2-9 with RISP. Not good. I think Girardi made a big mistake by pinch-hitting Marcus Thames for Lance Berkman. The smarter move in my opinion would have been to save Thames for Kearns or Curtis. Girardi messed that one up. Not a good couple of games for Girardi these last few days. He can't make the right decision to save his life. I think the same thing happened for a stretch last year. I don't think though it came at such a crucial point of the season. Hopefully his string of bad moves will change.

Still not in panic mode. Despite the slump the Yankees are playing pretty decent baseball. Six of their last seven games have been decided by 1 run and a lot could have gone either way. The lead in the wild card race is still a comfortable 6 games. A playoff berth is by no means a guarantee but there's no way this team continues to falter like they're currently doing. Their not exactly throwing out their A-team right now. Swisher, Pettitte, Gardner, and Teixeira are all hurt. A-Rod and Jeter are both less than 100%. You won't see guys like Mitre, Gaudin, and to a lesser extent Vazquez and Moseley put into close games in the postseason. The current make-up of this ball club is not what we'll see come October. The trick is weathering the storm and getting to October. Swisher and Gardner should be back Friday. Pettitte should be back soon. This team won't continue to lose. Knock on wood.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Beat Rays Thanks To Carl Crawford Being A Dummy

After tonight's Yankees' victory I had a brief back-and-forth via text with my buddy, and sometimes commenter, Danny Mac. His text summed things up perfectly: "2nd base at the Trop to fast guys must be like kryptonite to Superman." Yesterday it was Brett Gardner. Tonight it was Carl Crawford. What a bonehead. Thanks for being a dummy, dummy. It amazes me how these professionals, especially the ultra-fast ones, fail to realize that the risks on that play far outweigh any reward. In all probability they would need a base hit to score from 3rd and in all probability they would score from 2nd on the same base hit. Two dumb moves in two days. Crawford's though, in my opinion, was much more dumb.

Please cancel the Amber-alert. The Yankees offense has been found. 8 runs on 13 hits and 6 walks. Welcome back guys. Missed you. I was listening to the game on the radio when the Yanks picked up their first 4 runs. John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman commented that right after Teixeira's sac fly you could sense that the Yankees dugout felt a little more relaxed and that might have been reason for the offense waking up. I can see that. I'm not sure how Waldman and Sterling could from their vantage point but whatever. I'll roll with it.

It's a good thing they showed up today because they needed all 8 runs. I took my son to "Bounce Magic" tonight so I caught the 1st half of the game on the radio and the 2nd half on TV. I missed a small portion of the game which in reality was a pretty big portion. I left the game with the Yankees up 6-0. I came back and it was 7-6 Rays. Excuse me? How the heck did that happen in 1/2 an inning? I checked in with the most reliable sources I know....people on Twitter. As I expected, it was Joe Girardi's fault. I looked at the play-by-play from that inning and it's pretty ugly. I don't see what exactly Girardi did so if anyone that saw the game wants to let me know, I'd appreciate it. Since the game was on My9 I'll have to wait until tomorrow to check for postgame comments. I'd assume there will be some.

The win snaps an awful losing streak. It was a little touch-and-go there in the 10th but Mo did what he's done so many times in the past, pick up the Mariano (I advocate changing the word "save" to "Mariano" - get on board!). It was a great win for the Yankees and I think it's going to pull them from their little funk. They're back in first place, albeit by a half-game and they're one step closer to clinching a playoff spot. The magic # is now 11. With any luck I'll wake up tomorrow and find that it dropped to 10 due to a Red Sox loss (they're currently up 4-2). It would make for a great start to my Hump-day.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A Couple Of Questions After A Yankees Loss

Great game between the Yankees and Rays tonight. Unfortunately for us it didn't go the Yankees way. Lots of people on the hook for this one. Girardi, Mitre, the Yankees offense. Pick one. The one person not on the hook is CC Sabathia. What a performance. He deserved better.

1) Where oh where has the Yankees offense gone? Oh where oh where can it be? It's been a terrible last 2 games for the offense. Granted, they faced David Price and Cliff Lee but still: 1 run on 6 hits in 2 games. They're better than that.

2)Not sure who made this call but why in the world did Brett Gardner attempt to steal 3rd when he was already in scoring position and needs a base hit to score either way? If Joe Girardi and crew made that call then somebody needs to get canned because that was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. If Gardner did it on his own than he needs a serious time-out (sorry, got 3 kids). Gardner is one of the fastest runners in the league. He likely scores from 2nd on a base hit. Stupid move.

3)What is up with using Chad Gaudin in these close situations? I couldn't believe that Giradri went to him again in a tie game when he had several other (and better) RPs available. Props to Gaudin for getting out of it by the skin of his teeth.

4)Sergio Mitre. See question 3. What's up with not using other RPs? Albaladejo? Robertson? Joba? Hughes? Four fairly decent choices and Girardi opts for his 2 worst choices in Gaudin and Mitre. WTF?

Is it time to panic? Not yet, but it's getting close. They didn't exactly roll out their top flight SPs in the Texas series. No Pettitte. No Hughes. No CC. You think Dustin Moseley or Javy Vazquez will be making postseason starts? Nope. Same goes for the bullpen. They've been pretty damn good of late. No way Gaudin or Mitre pitches in this game if it were the playoffs. CC was off the freaking hook tonight. The offense failed him. But again, David Price, like CC and Cliff Lee, is no joke.

The Yankees have now lost 4 in a row and are 1-7 over their last 8. They're lucky they have such a big lead for the wild card. What I thought would be an impossible collapse is starting to happen. Lucky for them both the Red Sox and White Sox aren't hot right now. If the Red Sox hold on and win tonight they'll be 7 back in the loss column with 18 to play. It's still a pretty comfortable lead. But as we all know, you can't predict baseball. The magic # to clinch a playoff spot sits at 12. Until it gets to zero you never know what will happen. Right, Mets fans?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Run Season High Win Streak To 8 With 7-5 Win Over Jays

Let the good times roll, right? The Yankees have won 8 straight and are rapidly moving toward officially clinching a playoff spot. With the win today and the Red Sox loss (nice!) the magic number to clinch is 18. Running that down to zero is just a formality. The Red Sox are 9 back in the loss column with 26 to play (could possibly be 10 back by end of night). If the Yankees slump and play .500 the rest of the way (13-13) the Red Sox would have to go 23-4. Excuse me a moment. I have to call 911 because I think I just busted my gut. No chance the Red Sox go 23-4 the rest of the way. I think at best the Red Sox could go 18-9 and that's being very generous. Assuming they do, the wheels would totally have to fall off and the Yankees would have to finish 9-17. Sorry, need another moment. This time I think I split my side. Ouch.

The last 2 Yankee wins have been pretty similar. Mainly because neither starter could make it through 5 (both lasted 4.2) and the bullpen had to step up to lock the win down. And boy did they step it up. Friday the pen combined to pitch 4.1 hitless/scoreless innings. Logan to Robertson to Wood to Rivera. Game over. Today the pen pitched 4.1 IP, allowing 2 inherited runners to score on 3 total hits. Moseley to Logan to Chamberlain to Wood to Rivera. Game over. The runs allowed today could have been avoided if Joe Girardi didn't mishandle the last out of the 5th. With the lefty Lyle Overbay up the correct move would have been to go to Boone Logan as opposed to Dustin Moseley. What made the move even more puzzling is that Girardi used Logan immediately after Moseley. Logan should have been in to face Overbay. Joe's lucky the team picked him up.

The Kerry Wood trade looks like a winner, eh? He's now appeared in 14 games as a Yankee. He's thrown 16 innings, allowing only 1 run on 10 hits. The run he allowed came in his 2nd appearance. Since then he's been lights out. Except for the walks. Girardi has used him as the 8th inning guy two games in a row in games that featured both Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson. Pretty obvious that Wood is the chosen one for the 8th inning. I've got no problem with that choice.

I didn't get to see any of Friday's game. I tried to listen to it on the radio while at work but it didn't go so well. I didn't catch much of Nova's start. I saw all of Vazquez's outing and it wasn't hard to tell that he didn't have anything. It's amazing he lasted as long as he did. I'll give him credit for battling through it and only giving up 3 runs. The big question with Javy is what's up with his velocity, or better yet, lack thereof? He was topping out just below 90 and was averaging around 87. That'll work if you can locate your pitches and have good control and offspeed stuff, a la Mike Mussina. But when you don't, like Javy, you're treading water. I read that he's staying in the rotation so hopefully they can figure out what's wrong before his next turn comes up.

Marcus Thames had the big hit today with what turned out to be a 2-run game winning HR. MT's average has dipped a little but he's got a nice power stroke. He's gone deep in 6 of his last 10 games. He's been quite the surprise this year. Didn't expect him to step up the way he has. Another thing I didn't expect was Brett Gardner to play so well. Honestly, I never saw Gardner as more than a 4th OF. Same as Melky Cabrera. I think I need to re-think that position. I'm most impressed by BG's ability to get on base. He was rocking a .390 OBP coming into today's game and reached another 3 times. He tied a Yankees record by picking up a walk in his 9th straight game (tying Jason Giambi). OBP + speed = a dangerous combination.

Both the Rays and Sox are currently losing their games. Tonight could be a good good night.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Backs Up A Dominant Phil Hughes In 12-3 Drubbing Of White Sox

Phil Hughes kicked some major butt today and picked up his 3rd win of the season. And you know what that means? Time for a Hughes call: Huuughes! Wondering what that is? Allow me to explain. I'm a big Mike Mussina fan. I'm a card carrying member of his fan club and also run a fan site called Elect Mike Mussina (hasn't been updated in a while but still has some solid info). During Moose's last season, every time he picked up a W, I shouted Moose, and added an extra O for every win. So the final Moose call went a little something like this: "Moooooooooooooooooooose!" Take my word for it. There are 20 Os. I'm also a big Hughes guy so who better than to carry forward the tradition than him. Sao say it loud and say it proud, "Huuughes!" I'm still bummed that there aren't 4 Us in there (thanks a lot Yankee bullpen) but that's for an older blog.

So, anybody still think Joba should be the 5th starter? Didn't think so. I've always maintained that Hughes is the better pitcher. He always was and he always will be. Joba is a decent pitcher but I think his meteoric rise to fame hurt his ability to pitch as effectively as he did in his debut season. I mean, how many players with 1-2 months of major league service time under their belt have t-shirts bearing their name and number sold in a Dick's Sporting Goods along side the likes of Jeter and A-Rod? Oooh ooh oooh Mr. Boogie, I can answer this one. Yes Horseshack? None. Bingo.

It's great to see Philly boy finally coming into his own. And he isn't just coming into his own. He is pitching like he's one of the best in the game. I mean, look at these numbers through his 1st 4 starts: 25 IP, 10 hits, 12 walks, 24 K, and 4 ER. 10 hits in 25 innings? Are you freaking kidding me? Un-fricking-real. The walks are a little on the high side but when you don't give up many hits, they usually don't impact you that much. With his 7 scoreless IP today, his ERA dropped to 1.44 and his WHIP dipped to 0.88. Again, are you freaking kidding me? Sorry, I have to bust out another one. Huuughes! I know it's early. I know it's only 4 starts. But how can you not be this excited?

He Mark Teixeira! Thanks for finally showing up! What is it about the month of April that makes Tex suck so bad. The calendar has turned and so has Teixeira. I know 2 games isn't a huge sample but I'm taking it as a sign of what's to come. He's now 6-9 this month with 3 RBI. His batting average has jumped 53 percentage points. Welcome to the party Mark. Good to see ya.

The bulk of the Yankees offense ripped it today. Brett Gardner went deep. Cano hit his 9th HR and picked up 3 RBI. (MVP! MVP! MVP!) Swisher went 3-4 with his 4th HR, and 2nd in 2 days. Even Nick Johnson had a hit and 2 RBI. 7 guys had hits. 8 guys scored runs. 6 guys picked up at least 1 RBI. Any day you score 12 runs on 16 hits is a good day.

Swisher's HR added another $37 to the Swish's Wishes fundraiser. According to the tally in the upper left section of the blog, we're now up to $188 pledged to Swish's Wishes. If you want to get on board, drop me a line. No amount is too small and the more the merrier.

Rumors are swirling that A-Rod is hurt with a bum knee. The Yankees are flat out denying it. Cashman, Girardi, and Alex have all said it's nothing other than a little stiffness. I can't imagine for the life of me why the Yankees would lie about Alex's condition. There's really no reason to. They'd look pretty stupid of they made those comments and then he took a trip to the DL or sat out a few games. Girardi even went as far as to say A-Rod would be in Monday's lineup. Makes no sense to believe the reports out there that it's anything more than a minor inconvenience.

Next up on the schedule: the Orioles, who are fresh off a 3 game sweep of the Red Sox. Insert gut-busting laughter here. If I had more time I expand a little on how bad the Red Sox are but nobody needs me to point out the incredibly obvious. Burn. CC Sabathia vs. Jeremy Guthrie. First pitch = 7:05. Hopefully I'll be in front of my TV at some point with the game turned on. Wish me luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Hey, Ho, Javy Got To Go (And Some Other Random Stuff)

If you're sick and tired of Javy Vazquez raise your hand! This act is getting very tired. He's now made 5 starts this season and he's thrown a grand total of 23 innings. He's bad, very very bad. I didn't get to see much of the game today. It's been a very busy time here. On top of working 11-12 hours per day, we're in the middle of moving out of our house. I spent all day packing and moving stuff. I didn't experience any of the good today for the Yankees, only the bad. I saw Vazquez give up his 5 runs and I heard Robertson and Marte give up the other 2 as I was in the car. All I saw/heard of the Yankees was the first run they scored. Considering all of the bad and none of the good happened on my watch, maybe it was my fault?

I'd have to think that Vazquez will get better. He does know how to pitch. He's proved that in the past. Maybe pitching in NY is a different animal and he just won't cut it. Whatever it is, he and Eiland need to figure it out and they need to do it fast. He could have really used a good start in front of the home crowd today. Instead he sucked major balls. I didn't get to see his exit. I'm assuming the fans gave him the proper sendoff. But again, Javy has shown he knows how to pitch. He has it in him. I just hope he finds that pitcher sooner rather than later.

The Yankees bullpen is turning out to be one of their biggest weaknesses. It would have been nice if Robertson and Marte would have done their jobs. Nothing irritates me more than seeing the "lefty specialist" come in with one specific job to do and then not do it. Friggin' Marte.

I saw a replay of Curtis Granderson hurting his groin while running the bases. That looked painful. As expected he's been placed on the DL. Something tells me Curtis is going to miss some time. I think he'll definitely be out more than 15 days but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'll play armchair manager for a second here. If I'm Girardi, Gardner becomes my everyday CF and I platoon Winn and Thames. I really like having BG at the bottom of the order. I've said that before. I think having him turn the lineup over is perfect.

Congrats to Nick Swisher for hitting his 3rd HR of the season. The HR added $37 to our fundraiser. For those not in the know, a bunch of us Yankee fans have gotten together to donate money to Nick's charity, Swish's Wishes. We're basically donating $37 for every HR he hits. The total is now up to $151. I know, $37*3 is not $151. Someone ponied up a flat donation of $40. If you're interested in donating along with us, let me know and I'll add you to the tally (see upper left). Keep it going Swish. We want you to take our money.

Sorry for not blogging after Friday's victory. Truth of the matter is I was asleep before 9pm. Yeah, it's sad. I know. But getting up at 5 all week really took it's toll on me. I did have the fortune of seeing Jeter tie the game with a HR. I must have fallen asleep with the game on because Michael Kay's call of his triple woke me up. It was a nice way to cap off the month of April. Jeter finished the month with 4 HRs, the same number that A-Rod and Teixeira combined to hit. He finished the month with 18 RBI, 5 less than Teixeira and A-Rod combined for. He had 31 hits and a .330 average. He had 1 less hit than A-Rod and Tex combined. That's amazing to me. The RBI stat is staggering considering Jeter hits leadoff. Unreal.

Not sure how much of the game I'll get to catch tomorrow. More packing is on the docket. There's always something else to move. If I didn't have to work such ridiculous hours during the week it'd be a little easier, but what can you do? Gotta pay the bills.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Who's The Man? Andy Pettitte's The Man. (And So Is Robinson Cano)

Didn't see any of the game today as it was my son's first birthday party. I got occasional score updates via my friend's Motorola Droid (gotta get me one of those) and I was very pleased when I heard it was 6-0 after 5. My immediate comment to him was that Andy Pettitte is awesome. I just got done looking at the box score and my conclusion is that Andy Pettitte is the man.

I don't think I needed to see the game to know that Pettitte dominated the Angels. Just look at his pitching line. 8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K and 65.8% of his pitches were strikes. It doesn't get much better than that. I haven't read any recaps of the game yet to know just how awesome he was. I'm not sure I'll get to tonight as the missus just realized she has to fill out report cards by Monday and she hasn't started yet. I'm sure I'll get to read something at some point but if anyone wants to share their thoughts on AP's outing, I'd appreciate that. I think it's fair to say that Andy Pettitte is the team's best pitcher right now, hands down. You can probably argue that he's one of the game's best right now too. I'll admit it. I didn't see that coming. You go Andy. Keep on rocking it.

Robinson Cano is also the man. He went 4-5 today and is 8 for his last 16. I'm definitely not backing down from my Cano = AL MVP prediction. He'd definitely get my vote for team MVP at this point. He's going to have a monster year. And to think, a lot of Yankee fans wanted him traded. For shame.

Brett Gardner had 3 hits and now he's sitting on a .340 average. He's put together a nice little run. Over his last 7 games, Brett is hitting 11 for 24. Wow. I didn't see this coming either but I'm loving it.

It's crazy that the Yankees are 12-5 and are on the verge of winning their 6th straight series tomorrow. It's a little hard to believe because they haven't received much production from Mark Teixeira or Nick Johnson. Teixeira's 1-5 performance today raised his average to .123. That's sad. You go 1-5 and your average goes up. Not good. Especially when it's from the reigning MVP. Nick Johnson isn't doing much better at .135. The Yankees need better production from those 2 and the sooner it comes the better.

The Yankees go for their 6th straight series win tomorrow. It's on Javy Vazquez to bring tomorrow's one home. Taking 2 of 3 from Anaheim in Anaheim would be mighty nice. I think it's pretty evident even if they lose that the Angels are no longer the Yankees' Achilles heel. Counting last year's ALCS, the Yankees have won 10 of their last 15 meetings (I think I did the math right). My how the tables have turned.

The team is definitely off to a great start. I don't think any Yankee fan could have asked for more. They're 12-5 and have gotten zero production from their 2-3 hitters and they've played the cream of the crop. The Red Sox are always among the best. The Rays are currently 12-5 and are widely regarded as one of the top 5 teams in baseball. The AL West is thought to be a toss up between the Rangers and Angels. Prior to running into the Yankees the A's were sitting on a 9-5 record. It's impressive that the team is 12-5 at this point. They're definitely the best team in the game right now. I don't think anybody out there can say they're not.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Sweep Rangers & Andy Pettitte Is A Golden God

The Yankees may be tied with the Rays for the best record in baseball at 9-3. But there is no question as to which is the better team and sits atop the MLB power rankings. The Yankees are definitely a-number one, top of the list, kings of the hill and top of the heap. The sweep of the Rangers gives Yankees their fourth straight series win to start the season. The Bombers haven't done that since 1926. That's hard to believe I know, but it's true. This team is doing it all. They're pitching. They're hitting. They're playing solid defense. And they're doing it against the best of the bunch. They took 2 of 3 from Boston in Boston. 2 of 3 from Tampa in Tampa. 2 of 3 from their arch-nemesis the Angels in the Bronx. Then a sweep of Texas at home in the Boogie Down. Most baseball pundits think that the Yankees, Rays, and Red Sox are 3 of the best teams in baseball, with the Angels and Rangers being the top contenders in the AL West. Starting the season 9-3 against those teams has to have every Yankee fan excited. Any Yankee fan out there not excited?

The Yankees starting pitching absolutely dominated the Rangers. CC, A.J. and Andy combined to go 3-0, pitch 21 IP, while allowing 3 runs on 13 hits and 5 walks while whiffing 20. That's an ERA of 1.29. Hot damn! CC started it off and A.J. and Andy definitely kept the good times rolling. Pettitte was again awesome today. He was again vintage Pettitte. He struggled early but quickly figured out how to correct himself. We saw Andy do this quite a bit last year. He'd give up a few early runs, would settle down and pitch his tail off. Today was no different except he flat out dominated instead of just getting by. Pettitte has been lights out all season. Sure, he's allowed a fair amount of baserunners (WHIP coming into today was 1.42) but he's found ways to keep those guys from scoring. AP has now thrown 20 IP, has allowed 15 hits and 9 walks. His ERA is 1.35. That's awesome considering those stats came against the Red Sox, Angels and Rangers. Yeah, I'm jocking Andy's nuts right now. As I wrote in my last post, he's awesome.

I was a little surprised today's game was as close as it was. It didn't feel like a 5-2 win. The Yankees had a lot of baserunners today but only managed 5 runs. They weren't terribly efficient with RISP. They went 1-7 and left 10 guys on base. The game shouldn't have been as close as it was. I'm still puzzled how the Rangers only gave up 5 runs because Rich Harden was awful. It was nice to see Mark Teixeira hit his first longball of the season. That was long overdue. Tex is hitting the ball better but he's still struggling. If he can string together a few good games in a row I think that will turn things around. He's standing on the verge of getting it on.

Brett Gardner filled in very well at the top of the order (get well soon Derek). BG reached base 4 times today (2 singles, 1 walk, 1 HBP) and swiped 2 bases. It's hard to believe BG's OBP is up to .444 (assuming I did the math right). I love having Brett hit in the 9-spot. His ability to get on base and speed compliment the top of the order quite nicely. I know he's not an OBP machine but he does well for a guy in the 9-hole.

Jorge Posada is a beast. 'Nuff said.

If anyone was wondering why I didn't post after Saturday's win it's because I was holed up in a car dealership buying a minivan with the wife. I think we devoted about 9 hours to it. It was brutal. I didn't see any of the game, so I took the day off. The Yankees now embark on a west coast roadie and west coast trips and I don't get along. It's hard to stay up that late when you've got a 2.66 year old and a 1 year old that both wake up before 6:30am every day. Add a job to it and it's tough to stay up past 10. I usually make it to 11 or so for the west coast games. So I'm not sure what my level of blogging will be over the next few days. There will be something. I'm just not sure what. Thankfully it's just 2 late weekday games. Maybe I'll nut up and tough it up. Knowing me I probably will because I love me some Yankee baseball!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Take 2 Of 3 From Rays Behind A.J. Burnett

How can you not be excited if you're a Yankee fan? I know it's early. I know that the season is only 6 games old. But to take 2 of 3 in both Boston and Tampa? That's something to be excited about. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays are widely thought of as the 3 best teams in baseball. The Yankees went into Fenway and took 2 of 3 from the Sox. The Yankees went into Tampa and took 2 of 3 from the Rays. How can you not feel good about the team's start if you're a Yankee fan? It's pretty clear right now who's on top of the hill. But again, it's early. Things could change. But again, how can you not be excited about how the season has started?

Today's game didn't start out too hot. A.J. Burnett had an awful 1st inning and it looked like the bad version of A.J. Burnett was pitching. All things considered, I was very happy that the Rays only scored twice in the 1st. Personally, I think it was a bad bit of managing by Joe Maddon. The 1st 2 guys each singled and stole 2nd. Why would you have your 3-hitter sacrifice himself? You have a 1-run lead, a runner on 2nd, and one of your best hitters at the plate. That was the time to go for the jugular, not give up an out. Maybe if it were later in the game but not in the 1st inning. But I'm glad they did. Thanks for that Mr. Maddon.

After the 1st inning, A.J. had a somewhat easy-go of things. He retired 10 straight after the 1st inning. When Upton reached in the 4th, A.J. picked him off. When Burrell reached in the 5th, he got doubled off on the fly out to Granderson. While I'm on the subject of that play, I don't see why Burrell took a hard slide back into 1st. Supposedly he wanted to get hit by the ball. Whatever. If you ask me it was bush league. Moving on. It wasn't by any means Burnett's most dominant outing, but it worked. His control was off. Only 53% of his pitches were strikes. He walked 3 and only whiffed 1. Last year he almost struck out 1 an inning (195K in 207 IP). His control was definitely lacking today. But a win is a win. He didn't have his best stuff but he kept the Rays from scoring. And that's what good pitchers do. They find a way to get things done when their stuff isn't there.

I missed part of Joba pitching in the 8th inning. It was my brother in-law's birthday and we were in transit to his house. I missed the leadoff single and the RBI triple. It doesn't come off as the best of outings, but I guess the silver lining is that he stranded Crawford on 3rd. I'll let this one slide. Luck for JC the Yanks had a 7-2 lead.

I said this before the season started and I'll say it again. I'm really digging this lineup. There's just so much talent in it it's scary. If you knew that through the 1st 6 games that Nick Johnson would be hitting .136, Mark Teixeira would be hitting .125, and A-Rod would be hitting .259 with no hoime runs, you'd be foolish to think that the Yankees would be 4-2. It'll be really scary when those guys get hot and everything is running on all cylinders. Thankfully, the rest of the lineup is pretty much raking. Cano = .360. Posada = .353. Granderson = .348. Swisher = .333. Gardner = .294. Jeter = .286. As you can see the team is rocking 5 thru 9. They definitely deserve a lot of kudos for what they've done so far. I'd go as far as saying they're carrying the lineup.

Congrats to Nick Swisher for hitting his 1st HR and earning some bank for his charity, Swish's Wishes. If you're a regular reader you know a bunch of us are donating money to Nick's charity every time he goes yard. If you want to see an up-to-date tally, it's located in the upper left. If you'd like to join in on the fun and want some more info, check out this post. Now on the flip side, Nick needs to start hitting the ball when it counts. If you're a regular reader, then you've probably seen me call him "The Rally Killer." The RK made another appearance today. He came up in the 2nd with 2 out and Granderson on 2nd and he struck out swinging on 3 pitches. He came up in the 2nd with 2 out and runners on 1st and 2nd and he fouled out. In the 6th he grounded out with 1 down and Granderson on 2nd. That time however Granderson moved to 3rd and then scored on a wild pitch. It doesn't go down as a hit with RISP but I'll take the productive out. I really don't like calling Swish "The Rally Killer." But he kills rallies. The numbers don't lie.

The first road trip is in the books and so far so good. Now it's time for the real fun. Tuesday is the home opener and it's time for the boys to get their rings. Tuesday should be a pretty good time. I'm glad I took the day off. It all won't be fun and games as there is still a game to play. Those pesky Angels are coming to town. Wow. Who makes this schedule? Open on the road against the Red Sox and Rays. Open up at home against the Angels and Rangers. Talk about tough. It doesn't let up either. After the Rangers they have a 9 game roadie which includes make a trip to the west coast. The Yankees' schedule in April is definitely not a walk in the park. It's off to a great start and after beating the Sox and Rays, I'm confident they'll make it through it just fine. If you think I'm wrong, let me know.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Booogie